Since becoming acquainted with Harp-L of course I now realise that "Real
Players" must play in any key on a ten hole blues harp.
None of the professional diatonic harmonica players on Harp-l have said
this, to my knowlege, whether they can do it or not.
The ability to play in all keys on a diatonic is a skill in its
infancy. Some people are doing it brilliantly, some will do it brilliantly
in a few years. It's a great new direction for diatonic.
But most of the diatonic players I'm acquainted with, both on this list and
off, are kibbitzing this remarkable development. I am doing so myself.
My own approach to music, on harmonica at least, is to develop new
expressive tools on the diatonic using pretty much the "blues approach"
that developed between the early part of the last century and the early
1950's. Hopefully my style is nothing like anyone else's, but hopefully
the marvelously funky and deep feeling of the blues comes through in every
note.
From the mid-60's and on for about ten years I used three or four notes
that reached toward chromaticism, i.e., notes that you would not hear on a
blues recording by one of the black blues players of the first half of the
century. One by one those notes fell away, and finally I found myself
fully enthralled by the endless possibilities for musical expression
afforded by limiting one's self to the blues harp note set. I have never
once regretted the road I have taken, even when the new 'chormaticism of
the diatonic' began emerging.
Most of my diatonic colleagues - my personal acquaintainces that is - would
say pretty much the same thing, though they'd probably use fewer words.
So no, if you've gotten the impression that you 'must' learn the
chromaticism of the diatonic harp, it's the wrong impression.
It's discussed in this forum a great deal because it is an emerging craft
and the players that are pioneering it are doing so very much in
discussions right in front of us.
But there is an infinite amount of music yet to be discovered in the
non-chromatic route, too.